The Year of Magical Wanking tells the story of a year in a troubled man’s life. As you would expect, it is not a year without incident. He discovers he is HIV positive, moves into his recently deceased Grandfather’s council flat, meets with a Hollywood director while touring with his new play, along with many other events while battling with an addiction to the nastiest type of porn the internet has to deliver, and yes, wanking features heavily!

There are scenes where main actor Neil Watkins argues with his alter ego, drag queen Heidi Konnt and tells stories of the Alternative Miss Ireland pageant. There’s a touching scene with a group of young men from Finland, where he gets stoned and thinks he has become Jesus. The story is wide ranging and changes between moments of hilarity and poignancy with only seconds in between.

The stage is simple with a small square marked out in gaffer tape in the centre of the stage. This is surrounded by some strong uplighting, which aid the style of the show and create a variety of shadows on the walls of the set. Watkins is at ease on the stage, as you would expect from someone who has travelled in various one man shows and drag acts. The script is sharp and written in verse which adds to the flow, but it is made powerful by the fact that Watkins never holds back in the grim and fascinating details of his life. Weekends in sex bars in Paris are dealt with in plain manner and also the fact that he was molested as a child.

By no means suitable for the faint of heart, this is a wild and irreverent trip through a turbulent year in a man’s life, where he comes back from the brink before he is eventually saved by Jesus and a large man called Amma who has healing hugs! It is a strange and sad tale delivered with wit and charm.

The Year of Magical Wanking runs at the Project Arts Centre until Saturday, January 11th as part of the First Fortnight Festival.